1. Field of the Invention.
This invention relates to improvements in a reciprocating saw offset blade holder, and more particularly to adapters formed for supporting the reciprocatable saw blade in position for making desired cuts in a surface in close proximity to a perpendicular surface.
2. Description of the Prior Art.
Motor driven reciprocating blade hand saws have become widely used, particularly in the construction industry. These saws are used for rough cutting structural members such as studs and other framing timbers.
These hand held reciprocating saws conventionally have a reciprocating spindle driven by the motor to which the saw blade is removably attached, with the saw blade acting as an extension of the spindle. While these saws function extremely well for rough cutting, they do not function as well for refined cuts such as would be made by furnace installers or plumbers. In making these refined cuts, it is necessary for the saw to be able to make a cut in a flat surface (such as a floor) along the juncture of such flat surface with a perpendicular flat surface (such as a wall). This kind of cut is known in the trade as a "flush with" cut.
In making the described refined cuts, it is also necessary to make a cut in a flat surface (floor or wall) at right angles to and up flush against a perpendicular surface (wall or floor). This type of cut is known in the trade as a "flush to".
One of the reciprocating blade saws most used in the construction industry is manufactured by the Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation of Brookfield, Wis. As sold, the Milwaukee reciprocating saw (called "Sawzall") is not capable of making either "flush to" or "flush with" cuts without modification. Milwaukee also markets a device called "Offset Blade Adapter, catalog number 48-03-2000" which renders the Milwaukee reciprocating blade saw capable of making "flush with" cuts. Tha adapter fastens to the motor driven reciprocating spindle to which the blade is normally attached, and the blade is secured to the flat top of the adapter in such a manner that the plane of the blade is offset above the top of the housing for the motor. This makes it possible to saw along the juncture between perpendicular surfaces, parallel to one of the surfaces, thus making a "flush with" cut.
The described offset blade adapter, however, does not make it possible to use the blade to make a "flush to" cut, that is, a cut through a first surface perpendicular to a second surface in which the cut is perpendicular to the second surface and terminates thereat.